This is the second book of Birdsall’s five-part The Penderwicks series, following The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. The 2005 novel introduces Mr. Penderwick, a gentle professor of botany, and his four daughters, the responsible Rosalind, the fiery Skye, the imaginative Jane, and the animal-loving Batty. The story unfolds over the course of the family’s annual summer vacation, “three wonderful weeks at a place called Arundel in the Berkshires” (7). The property of Arundel Hall is idyllically beautiful, but its owner, “the dreadful Mrs. Tifton“ (34), is stern and judgmental of the spirited, quirky sisters. The four girls befriend Mrs. Tifton’s only child, a lonely and musically gifted boy named Jeffrey. He participates in the Penderwicks’ minor shenanigans, and their adventures together eventually give him the courage to convince his mother to let him pursue his passion for the piano at a musical conservatory rather than follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and go to military school. The first installment of the Penderwick Series won the National Book Award and was also chosen as an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

The sequel develops the sisters’ lives in their home on Gardam Street and focuses on their widowed father’s tentative steps towards a new romance. Supporting characters from the first book influence the sequel’s events. For example, one reason the Penderwick sisters strongly oppose the idea of their father remarrying is that they loathe Jeffrey’s pompous stepfather, Dexter Dupree. Another influential character who appears in the first book is Cagney, Arundel’s handsome teenage groundskeeper. Rosalind develops a crush on him and is heartbroken when she learns that he has a girlfriend. This experience leads to her resolution to “stay away from love and its confusions for many years” at the start of the sequel (8). Rosalind’s feelings for Cagney are one of the main hurdles that she and Tommy have to overcome to realize that they would make a good couple. Jeffrey appears in the sequel’s epilogue as one of Martin’s groomsmen, and letting Skye visit the boy in Boston is one of the key ways that Jane demonstrates the importance of loyalty.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street continues the first book’s exploration of family, friendship, and real-world problems. In the series’ second installment, Mr. Penderwick’s first forays into dating after the death of his wife and his daughters’ subsequent plan to ‘save’ him from falling in love guide the plot. The sisters’ loyalty to one another is at the heart of the series’ examination of family dynamics. Childhood mischief also figures prominently in both stories, offering humorous moments such as when Batty accidentally unleashes a rabbit and a dog into Mrs. Tifton’s manicured garden in the first book and when Skye and Jane’s soccer team becomes embroiled in a brawl in the second. Friendship and community remain important throughout the series, and the sequel explores the Penderwicks’ relationships with their neighbors in their suburban home of Cameron, Massachusetts. The Penderwicks’ adventures continue in The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, The Penderwicks in Spring, and The Penderwicks at Last.